dissent

B’Tselem Executive Director Hagai El-Ad addressing a special session of the UN Security Council, October 14, 2016. (Screenshot)

Netanyahu’s coalition whip wants to revoke B’Tselem director’s citizenship

Senior Likud official, angry that Hagai El-Ad demanded the UN act to end the occupation, admits there’s no legal avenue to strip his citizenship — at the moment. The Israeli human rights organization says threats won’t deter it. How does the only democracy in the Middle East deal with outspoken human rights activists? By threatening to revoke their citizenship,…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man October 21, 2016

Right-wing activists from ‘Im Tirzu’ protest at the entrance to the Tel Aviv University, November 20, 2014. (photo: Shiraz Grinbaum/Activestills.org)

How Im Tirtzu dominates Israel’s public debate

While its campaign of intimidation against supposed left-wing Israeli artists seems to have backfired, Im Tirtzu’s role in Israel’s current political climate cannot be overstated. The political climate in Israel has become so draconian and repressive lately that it was slightly surprising how quickly everyone rushed to denounce Im Tirtzu’s latest campaign against mainstream artists and…

By Mairav Zonszein February 1, 2016

A public reading of Breaking the Silence testimonies in Tel Aviv to mark 10 years since the organization was founded, June 6, 2014. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Why do so many Israelis hate Breaking the Silence?

The organization of former Israeli soldiers is coming under attack from every direction these days — from the Israel’s president to the defense minister to the police. So what’s the deal? Breaking the Silence is a Jewish organization made up of former Israeli soldiers, most of whom served in combat roles. All they want to do…

By Haggai Matar December 14, 2015

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Israeli soldiers blindfold and arrest a young Palestinian man in Hebron. (photo: Activestills.org)

Occupation is the problem, not the people talking about it

Israel’s Foreign Ministry is going after Israeli human rights and anti-occupation activists overseas. Doing so will only make things worse for Israel. By Ilan Baruch It’s been less than a month since Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely instructed Israeli embassies abroad to explain to the nations of the world that the land of Israel is…

By +972 Magazine June 16, 2015

Palestinian citizens of Israel demonstrate against the Prawer-Begin Plan, BeerSheva, May 12, 2013 (Photo by Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

+972’s Editor’s Picks of 2014

As 2014 comes to a close, +972 Magazine’s editors and bloggers took time to look back at the year that was, and share the articles that most resonated with them – in no particular order. Israel’s watershed moment that wasn’t The Gaza war was perceived very differently in Israel and abroad, even among some of…

By +972 Magazine December 29, 2014

JVP Boston activists protest the Veolia transportation company for operating bus lines serving settlements in the West Bank. November 14, 2012. (Tess Scheflan/ Activestills.org)

Censorship in the American Jewish community

Support for groups like JVP has grown significantly since the latest war against Gaza. Disenfranchising this ever-growing segment of concerned American Jews will only escalate the decline in our community. By Seth Morrison The past year has seen increasing efforts within the American Jewish community to censor anybody who believes that boycott, divestment and sanctions…

By +972 Magazine November 5, 2014

Israel police arrest a left-wing protester during a demonstration against settlement in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. (File photo by Oren Ziv/ Activestills.org)

Israel’s Left forgot what dissent really means

Dissent means going against the majority when you believe the majority is wrong — and not just to be contrary. That means being unpopular almost by definition; the majority will never send us flowers. My colleague Mairav Zonszein has written an eloquent piece in The New York Times decrying the state of dissent in Israel,…

By Dahlia Scheindlin October 1, 2014

Protest against the boycott Law, Tel Aviv, June 12 2011 (photo: Oren Ziv/activestills)

Silencing dissent in Israel – continued

Silencing dissent doesn’t only mean directly quashing free speech. Silencing, or a chilling effect, also take place when certain forces in society dominate and monopolize the narrative, deciding what is acceptable, what is fringe and what is mainstream. Judaism for me is a sensibility of collective self-questioning and uncomfortable truth-telling: the dafka-like quality of awkwardness…

By Mairav Zonszein October 1, 2014

An Israeli tank is seen before entering the Gaza Strip near Israel's border with the Gaza strip on July 24, 2014 (photo: Activestills)

IDF reservist sentenced to military prison for refusing draft

Update: The reservist has since decided to expose his identity. He is Gilad Halpern; the name has been updated here. An IDF reservist was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport Wednesday upon returning to Israel after fleeing call-up orders to serve in Operation Protective Edge. He was later sentenced to 21 days in military prison. Gilad…

By Dahlia Scheindlin August 9, 2014

Jonathan Pollak at a Tel Aviv Courthouse. Photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org

Israeli activist sentenced to 3 months in prison for protesting Gaza blockade

Of all the criminals involved with the 2008 Gaza war, an Israeli leftist will be going to jail for riding his bike against the war in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv Magistrates court judge Yitzhak Yitzhak convicted Israeli leftist Jonathan Pollak of illegal assembly for his participation in a January 2008 Critical Mass ride against the…

By Joseph Dana December 27, 2010

Danny Rubinstein (source: Wikipedia)

Is it too late for a two-state solution?

Danny Rubinstein, one of Israel’s most prominent journalists and an expert on Palestine who speaks fluent Arabic, thinks it very possible that the two-state solution (Israel and Palestine) has been left behind in the dust kicked up by history. In a piece for the US-based quarterly Dissent Magazine, called One State/Two States: Rethinking Israel and…

By Lisa Goldman November 22, 2010

Does the J-Street lockout make sense to anyone?

There are a number of things that utterly bewilder me, as an Israeli, about Temple Beth Avoda’s cancellation of the J-Street president Jeremy Ben Ami talk this evening. I’ll jump to conclusions and assume the people responsible and myself come from different edges of the political spectrum; but sometimes you just wanna reach across the…

By Dimi Reider November 18, 2010